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SELECTED ARTICLES. 
1. In the first place, there can be little doubt, that, both for 
this and various other important purposes, the profession of 
chemist and druggist ought to be elevated as far as possible 
by an improvement in education, and protected by some of 
the rights due to a legally constituted Society or Incorpora- 
tion. I have heard the government of this country blamed 
for not having instituted such a body long ago; and in my 
opinion the evils which have resulted from the neglect on this 
head are far deeper and more extensive than most persons 
are aware of. On the very face of the question it certainly 
appears extraordinary, that, while in every other great 
European kingdom the profession of retail druggist is a 
highly respectable one, closely connected with science, incor- 
porated by statutes, and exercised only by those who have 
undergone an express course of study, and been licensed after 
examination, — in Britain alone is it allowable for any man, no 
matter how ignorant and uneducated, to assume the name and 
character of chemist and druggist unchallenged. 
The advantages of an institution for the protection and im- 
provement of Pharmacy are manifold. For first, by confer- 
ring a certain status on the followers of what ought to be a 
scientific art, their character and respectability cannot fail to 
be greatly raised. Then, it will at once furnish the means of 
pointing out to the public those who are worthy of confidence. 
Farther, it is an important preliminary for the establishment 
of a board of education, by which the studies of the future 
members of the profession may be regulated, and their fitness 
for entering on it ascertained by examination. But again, 
it is also a necessary step for the accomplishment of one of 
the measures on which I am disposed chiefly to rely for 
abating the practice of adulteration, namely an effectual visi- 
tation of the druggist's shops. And, lastly, an institution of 
this kind appears not unlikely to promote the interests of 
science, more especially of chemical science. It is not trade 
alone, and the immediate interests of the public, which have 
suffered in this country by the want of an institution for 
